by Trina Solet
Without ever having experienced it, all Blake ever wanted as a child was a normal life. As he grew up, he wanted something that never came into focus until he came to terms with himself. Now that Reese was back in his life, he had everything he could ever want.
Blake started to leave, and his mother grabbed his arm.
"Where are you going?"
He turned to her. "Why didn't my father send you to jail?" he asked her.
"And have those surveillance tapes played in court? I told Don all kinds of things about Jim so we could laugh at him. Jim didn't want the whole town laughing at him too. He had his dignity to protect," she said meanly. Seeing the disgusted look on Blake's face, she reminded him, "Your father threw me out, and you too. Don’t forget."
"I haven't," Blake told her then he wrenched his arm away from her, and he left.
She screamed at him as he went to his car. By now, Blake was used to his mother's rants about his father, about money, about all the men who didn't want to pay her bills, about Blake himself and how ungrateful he was.
As he walked away, Blake was leaving with new knowledge about his so-called family. But none of it told him why his father turned his back on him. That was something he would never understand.
Chapter 21
Arriving in front of Wellinger Fabrications, Reese thought it was kind of weird to be visiting the place in the company of Blake's brother and sister. As they got out of the car in front of the old factory, Finn and Dee Dee were still fighting over who should have been the one to drive. Finn claimed that the drive to and from the motel counted as one trip.
"Will you ever learn to count? Two! Two trips. It was my turn," Dee Dee said.
"You guys never stop, do you?" Reese said, listening to them bicker.
"Stop what? Being ourselves? No. We're awesome," Finn said then he noticed Dee Dee looking pleased with herself. That's when he realized what he said. "Wait. No. Scratch that. I didn't mean to include her," he said, pointing at Dee Dee.
"Too late. As Reese is my witness, you said I was awesome," she crowed.
They made their way over a wall which had mostly collapse into heaps of loose and broken bricks. The sign that said Wellinger Fabrications was still there, pitted and rusted so it was hard to read.
From the first time he saw it a few weeks after arriving in Meadowview, Reese had found the ruin of the old factory irresistible. The roof had fallen in long ago. Rust ran down the remaining walls like the place was bleeding. At the same time, vines were climbing up the walls, and all sorts of green things were sprouting from the cracks in the masonry. In its own way, the place was a thing of beauty. Standing in its shadow now, Reese couldn't help but smile. He remembered all the times he and Blake hung out there, just the two of them.
"Spill it!" Finn demanded, seeing Reese just standing there, basking in memories.
Reese wanted to wait until they were in the right setting to tell them the story. He wanted to be able to relive it.
"Blake and I came here sometimes. We usually came alone, but this one time a guy we knew, Doug Neumar, was tagging along. Blake was jealous of Doug. He was a little bit dangerous, a senior, had tattoos and a car, and worst of all, he had a thing for me."
"You are so full of yourself," Finn told him.
"Let him tell the story," Dee Dee said to him.
Blake had been furious when Doug saw them going there and horned in. How could Blake not know what he felt when he was that jealous of Doug? Doug was more manly, and he had the tough guy attitude. He swaggered around like he was hot shit, but he was just a guy trying too hard. He still made Blake seethe. Reese could still see the murderous look on his face when Doug threw an arm over Reese's shoulder.
"Let's go up so you can picture it," Reese said as he led them inside.
Open to the sky, the interior of the building was being taken over by filth and nature. Sun was shining down into the big space. There was garbage everywhere as well as plants growing. The cement floor was broken up into chunks and the walls were crumbling.
Reese moved through the big open space toward the tower-like structure in the back. It still had a roof, and the stairs looked pretty safe. Reese went up first anyway to test them.
Up there, he could see how this place used to be a working factory. Away from the elements, things stood more or less intact. There was no machinery of course, but all the posts and alcoves showed where they used to be. The one thing that Reese cared about was still there. The walkway that spanned the open space between two sides of the tower looked even less safe than before. Reese pointed it out to the twins.
"That's where it happened," he told them.
They could see all the rusted spots on the walkway and the long way down to the floor below. One wrong step could be deadly.
"Can we cross?" Finn asked anyway.
"No way. Blake would kill me," Reese told him.
Of course when Doug dared him to cross to the other side, Blake went. He marched over that rusted metal with no hesitation. Hearing the walkway creek dangerously with every step Blake took, Reese wanted to kill Doug.
Reese held his breath as Blake crossed, then he went right after him. Blake was yelling at him to go back. Reese stared at him defiantly instead of looking where he was stepping. His foot slipped and he fell. By flailing wildly for a handhold, he managed to grab the support bar that ran underneath. He only gripped it by accident with one hand. He was barely holding on. Just as he could feel his hand slipping, Blake caught him. Held in Blake's crushing grip, his wrist hurt like hell. Reese ignored the pain and hoisted his leg up onto the ramp.
Blake pulled him up the rest of the way and cursed at him. He actually told Doug that he would fucking kill him. The look on Doug's face was priceless. He looked from Blake to Reese, and he knew the deal.
Blake still didn't even as he clutched at Reese and glared at him with worry and relief. At that moment, he really did seem to be declaring his love for Reese. It was so clearly written on his face and in every gesture toward Reese as he made sure he was OK. The only one who couldn't see it was Blake.
Finn and Dee Dee were peering at the walkway. Reese wasn't even sure that's what it was. It was narrow and there were no handholds.
"Maybe there used to be a conveyer belt that moved things across, now it's just this frame. I don't know if it was even built to hold a person, much less two," Reese said thinking aloud.
"What's on the other side?" Dee Dee asked.
"Nothing much any more. I think there used to be a lift of some kind, but it was dismantled and the opening boarded up." Reese looked around and pointed toward a well lighted area. "Let's go that way. Past that railing is this space with an amazing view of the hills. That's where Blake and I used to hang out." Reese wanted to take a picture of them together on that spot once Blake joined them.
They went toward the windows, taking care where they stepped. All over the floor were metal pieces where machinery used to be fastened. Some of them had come loose. Others just stuck out ready to trip them up. There was a railing that separated the two sections of the tower. It was kind of high. The guys had no trouble, but the only way Dee Dee could go over was to hike up her skirt.
"You two, turn around," she ordered them.
"It's your brother and a gay guy. I guarantee that no one will be looking up your skirt. Hurry it up," Finn told her.
"I'm still not going to flash my underwear in public," she told him as she started climbing and they turned away. "Stupid skirt," she said and then she screamed.
They both turned back and saw a man wearing an eye patch with his arm around her neck.
"Right into my waiting arms," he said as he looked at Reese with his one good eye and smiled.
*
Blake was sitting in his car, ready to go meet Reese, when he got a call from Roberto.
"Those two weird girls are here looking for Reese. They say they need to warn him. Is he with you?" Roberto asked.
Blake figured Roberto me
ant Patty and Simone and that they were at the bodega. "No," he said. "Let me talk to them."
"Since you're not at the motel, you better be on your way out of town, white bread," Patty said as soon as she got on the phone. "Reese is not answering his phone. Where is he?"
Blake felt a cold prickle down his spine. "I'm on my way to meet him. What's going on?" he asked her.
That's when Simone got on the phone. "Listen up. I have some news from Pete."
"Who?"
"Pete. Pietro," she said impatiently. "You remember Doug Neumar?"
"Sure," Blake said, not understanding what he had to do with anything.
"He was last seen talking to that one eyed man. Then he was found naked and beat up with his throat slit open."
"Fuck," Blake gasped.
"Pete says eye-patch man is lurking around. He's been seen here and there."
Not liking what he heard, Blake tried calling Reese himself. No answer. Scared out of his mind, he hurried to meet Reese at Wellinger's. Everything is fine, he kept telling himself. He just needed to get him out of town right now.
*
Finn froze. On the other side of the railing, the man with the eye patch had one hand wrapped around Dee's neck. With the other, he carefully placed a knife to her right eye. The point of the knife rested just under the rim of her glasses, below her eye. Finn couldn't look away from that spot. The point of the knife was pressed in. It made a dent in her skin without drawing any blood yet. Dee's face was a mask of fear.
"What do you want?" Reese asked, startling Finn.
Finn didn't even realize he was holding his breath when he let it out. Reese's phone was ringing, but they all ignored the sound. He didn’t even try to answer it.
"Wondering how I found you?" the man with the eye patch said. "I learned so much about you since I came here. I know all your secrets."
"Then what do you want with her?" Reese asked.
"This sweet thing?" He squeezed Dee's neck. "I just couldn't resist."
"I thought I was your type," Reese said.
Finn struggled to stay still, not to move or speak. He could hardly think as he stared at Dee in the grip of that man. He only then remembered the man's name.
Randal Mayes gave a sickening smile. "She doesn't do a thing for me, but she has a pretty pair of eyes. I can take either one or both," he threatened.
Finn only held himself back by sheer willpower. He knew any move he made could get Dee hurt or killed. Every fiber of his being itched to jump that railing and launch himself at Mayes and crush every bone in his body. If he only didn’t have the point of the knife right up against Dee's eye.
"As long as you don't hurt her, I'm willing to deal," Reese said.
"Come here then," Mayes said, smiling again.
Reese moved forward. "Let her go and you can have me."
As Reese went closer, Dee mouthed his name and looked even more afraid now that Reese was going to hand himself over to that man for her sake. Reese swung himself over the railing. When Reese was close enough, Mayes threw Dee aside and grabbed him. Finn reached over the railing and caught her before she fell. He climbed over and held onto her. She was shaking. Finn was too.
Mayes now held the knife at Reese's throat and started backing away. In unison, Finn and Dee stepped closer. Mayes didn't seem too worried. If anything he looked amused.
"Nothing to worry about, kids. Me and Reese are just going to get reacquainted."
That's when they heard Blake's voice calling to Reese. None of them dared to answer him, but soon Blake's rushing footsteps could be heard on the stairs.
Finn and Dee saw him as he came up. Mayes had pulled Reese backwards toward the walkway. The two of them were halfway between Finn and Dee on one side and Blake on the other.
Finn expected Mayes to tell Blake to move out of his way so he could get away, but instead he started going backwards on the walkway. Blake looked anguished, but he didn't stop. He matched Mayes step for step until Mayes and Reese were in the middle of the walkway and Blake was on the edge of it. Finn didn't know what he could be thinking. He didn't see any possible way to save Reese.
Chapter 22
Blake had rushed there without knowing what he might find. The first sign that something was very wrong was the silence when he went inside the factory. Finn never shut up, and Dee Dee did her part too. He should have been able to hear them chattering away. He heard nothing but his own footsteps and debris shifting under his feet. When he called out and no one answered, he had no doubt. It was bad.
He went up with reckless speed as his heart beat wildly. Then he saw just how bad it was. Taking in the sight of Mayes holding Reese at knifepoint, Blake felt like all the blood and heat drained from his body. If Reese died, Blake was dead too. No. His heart and mind rebelled at the thought of Reese dying. Blake was ready to do whatever it took to stop it.
Reese with a knife to his throat froze the blood in his veins, but it was a relief to see Finn and Dee Dee were OK. Both of them looked like they were ready to rush at Mayes. Blake felt the same urge, but it was impossible to do anything while Mayes had a knife to Reese's throat.
Blake followed him as he backed himself and Reese onto the walkway, but he didn't dare step a foot on that shaky, pitted span of metal. As he stood on the edge, Blake eyed Mayes, watching for any sign of what he might do. The strange thing was that Mayes seemed glad to see him.
"Is this the lover boy?" Mayes grinned like he was looking forward to meeting him.
Blake was disturbed by his attitude. What was he planning? Mayes looked happy to see him, and Blake could think of only one reason for that. Mayes wanted him to watch Reese die.
The other side of the walkway was a dead end. Blake suspected that Mayes knew that as well, but he was still going that way. He could have told Blake to stay back and gone down the stairs. It all added up to one thing.
Afraid as he had never been in his life, Blake tried to think. There wasn't a lot of room on the walkway. To stand so close together, Mayes and Reese stood diagonally on the narrow ramp. Mayes had stepped forward so one of his feet was in front of one of Reese's. He held on to the shoulder of Reese's jacket with his left hand and held the knife to Reese's throat with the right.
Blake once stood where they were standing. There were no handholds. From experience, Blake knew what it took to keep your balance, and how easy it was to fall.
One thing was clear to Blake – if Reese fell, Mayes was going down right along with him. Based on that, a plan for the worst case scenario was already half formed in his mind, but it all hinged on Reese. Blake looked at him, willing him to understand what he was thinking no matter how crazy it was.
Blake didn't dare do anything yet, but he had a bone chilling feeling that he didn't have much time. The look in Mayes eyes was unfocused, and a smile was spreading across his face. Was he on something?
As Blake was trying to figure him out, Mayes moved the knife to the left like he was preparing to draw a line across Reese's throat from ear to ear. Blake moved faster than he could think. A burst of adrenaline sent him into action before he even made that decision. In his mind, he begged Reese to hold on.
Reese moved at the same time. He didn't struggle. He grabbed Mayes arm to stop the knife and then he let himself fall taking Mayes down with him. With his leg tangled with Reese's, Mayes couldn't keep his balance. They both hit the walkway then rolled off.
The fall was terrifying. Blake threw himself flat on the walkway and reached down. In a state of panic, he grabbed something. It was Reese's jacket. Without letting go, he reached for Reese's wrist with his other hand. He was afraid he might fall but he didn't care. He wasn't going to let go of Reese. That's when he felt Finn grab his legs.
"This walkway better hold," Finn said.
Reese was bleeding from a cut in his left arm, but he held on to the metal bar with his right hand. Beyond him, Blake could see a lot of blood on the ground below and Mayes lying in the middle of it.
With Finn's help, Blake pulled Reese to safety. Finn got off the walkway as soon as he could while Blake held onto Reese. Carefully, he helped him stay steady as they got off the metal bridge. It moved and creaked under their weight.
Even as Finn and Dee Dee were crowding them, Blake checked Reese for more cuts. Then Reese couldn't seem to help himself. He turned his head. His eyes searched for where Mayes had fallen. As Reese looked down, he started to shiver. It wasn't fear. It was horror. Blake tried to make him turn away, but he couldn't so he just pulled him close and held him.
Dee Dee told them that she called 911.
"Thank you, both of you," Blake said looking at her and Finn with worry. Were they really OK?
"Don't thank us," Dee Dee objected. "Reese gave himself up to that maniac to save me."
"He was holding Dee so he could get his hands on Reese," Finn explained.
Blake stared at her with horror. She looked a little disheveled but not hurt. He could tell that she was shaken up though. Finn was too.
"Thank you," Blake managed to say to Reese as his throat constricted around every word.
"Yes, thank you. That was something," Finn said. He sounded overcome too.
All the gratitude made Reese uncomfortable. "Cut it out, all of you. I brought this problem here."
"Shut up. It wasn't your fault," Finn told him.
"You two almost died," Dee Dee said, pointing back at the walkway.
"That was a crazy stunt," Finn agreed.
"I have prior experience falling off that bridge. That time I just managed to catch myself on that support bar that runs underneath by sheer luck. I didn't even know it was there then. Doing it again wasn't as hard as the first time," Reese said, smiling at the twins wanly.
"You could have ended up like him," Dee Dee said. She only glanced toward where Mayes had fallen then averted her eyes.
Blake could see why she was so freaked out by what they had done. It must have looked insane to rush in like that. It was insane. And the only reason it worked out was because Reese reacted so fast.
